


Amaryllis

by Yesacia



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Hanahaki Disease, Unrequited Love, angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-16
Updated: 2018-02-16
Packaged: 2019-03-19 15:17:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13707123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yesacia/pseuds/Yesacia
Summary: Keith falls in love with Lance, but it's not meant to be.





	Amaryllis

**Author's Note:**

> Hanahaki Disease is a fictional disease in which the victim coughs up flower petals when they suffer from one-sided love. It ends when the beloved returns their feelings (romantic love only; strong friendship is not enough), or when the victim dies. It can be cured through surgical removal, but when the infection is removed, the victim's romantic feelings for their love also disappear.

  The way that the lights hit his face stung deep inside his chest, oceanic eyes so full of life while he felt like a wilting flower. The way Lance practically danced down the hall after a celebration in their honor made Keith's boots heavy with lead and regret. Lance was bright, shining, all the stars in the universe dulling in comparison. Keith drew into himself deeper, his darkness flinching away from the Cuban boy in a way that burned, a constant longing to reach out to him just had him crossing his arms harder and tighter to contain them. To hold himself in the way he longed for but knew could never be.

  When he first felt ill, he thought it was some horrible punishment, too much nunvill at a party leading to one too many casual brushes against the blue paladin, but when he found himself coughing up wide red pieces of something he couldn't identify, he made a note to talk to Shiro and Allura about it and flushed them away.

  Lance smiled and cheered, and Keith's heart fluttered, and he felt something tighten in his chest. Lance high fived Hunk and reached out for him, but he couldn't bear it. He brushed passed him and fled to the sanctuary of his room, sobbing as he threw up. Keith wasn't sure what hurt worse, the memory or the burning in his throat. The memory of Lance's lips on his, the way the tanned boy shoved him away with denial, screaming about how he wasn't gay, though every part of him proved otherwise, kissing Keith again before rejecting him a second time and running away. He decided the burning and almost cutting feeling in his throat was worse as he choked up an entire blossom.

  He saved the specimen, bringing it to Shiro and Allura, who were at a loss as to where it could have come from or how Keith was coughing them up. Shiro vaguely recalled an old legend about unrequited love, and recognized the blood red blossom as an earth flower he couldn't identify. It was Pidge who gave it a name. An Amaryllis, she said. Her mother had planted them all over her garden.

  Lance and Keith fought that night, Lance knowing Keith was ill, Keith not wanting to discuss it anymore. Keith felt like he was suffocating around Lance. Like he would die without him but dying while near him. Lance blamed Keith for coming on to him, not wanting to admit how the night had really gone, Lance's high from a local drink having the Cuban practically dragging him around the room with intimate murmurs and whispered feelings, practically crawling all over him. Oh how Keith wanted that to last forever, but here he was in the present, Lance fuming, confused, concerned, Keith throwing up on the floor of his room.

  Allura and Shiro came to Keith's room, the boy holed up there for two days, in too much pain to move, the room wreaking of vomit, dried blood at the corners of his mouth and under his nose, he opened his mouth to speak but all that came were dried up petals mingled with newer, tumbling from his mouth with a pained whimper. They had to practically carry the weaker boy to a lion, having not ate in two days and dehydrated. A surgeon, they assured him, would fix it. 

  With the three gone, it was Coran's task to alert the others. 

Keith could die, he said.

Keith was dying.

  Lance ran from the room, confused and afraid. Guilt choking him. He was killing Keith.

He killed Keith.

  Keith came back to the ship, weak but in much better health, somehow different. Something off. Lance beamed, heart soaring, just glad he was ok. He apologized. Lance kissed keith with all he had.

I finally get it, Lance said, tears flooded in his eyes. He gasped when Keith shoved him away.

What are you doing?

Get away from me.

  It burned Lance, all the way down to his soul. It shook him to the core. Is this what Keith felt? Oh God, he wanted to die. How could he do this to him? How could Lance have done that to Keith? If only Lance hadn't been such a fool. They could have had so much.

It was too late.

The only thing that remained of Keith's love was on an examination table in the lab.

Lance stared at the dried up Amaryllis blossom, a sting in his chest seeming to spread, taking root in every vein.

He didn't feel well.


End file.
